Escape

Miles groaned as he woke. He smelled a mixture of sour sweat and concrete dust. He tried bringing his arms around to push himself up, but he found them cuffed. Miles sighed. He shifted his weight and sat up, looking around the dim room. "Anyone else awake?" He kept his voice down.

'Annie' nodded sharply. About all she could do, as unlike everyone else, she was chained to the wall. The other two stirred when he spoke.
"Anyone know where we are?" The Librarian asked. Her voice had a rasp to it.

"No, but when I came to, we were traveling. We were on the road for a while." 'Annie' sounded highly annoyed. "But I'm not sure where. We were all in crates."

"Great." Miles frowned and tested the cuffs. They were snug, but had some give. If he worked at it, he probably could get himself loose. "Who has us? Any idea?"

"I didn't see anyone. They were careful. But they left us our packs." 'Annie' gestured behind them with her chin. "I'm guessing no weapons, though."

Safe bet, Miles thought. He stood slightly, and pulled his cuffed hands back and under his legs. He got tangled briefly, but quickly pulled his arms over his feet. He nodded to himself, then shuffled to the pile of packs and found his. He fumbled through his pack and pulled out a water bottle. Carefully, he unscrewed the cap and took a long drink. "Anyone else want some?" At several nods, he passed the bottle around. "Okay. What should we do?"

The Librarian looked thoughtful, "I think we might want to wait. Talk to whoever has us, maybe we can negotiate our way out."

"I'm game..." Alice said, "Though, it might help if we try not lying..." she took a sidelong glance at 'Annie'. The chained woman just sneered. "But I agree with Librarian."

Miles shrugged. "Okay. And yeah, no lying. Not only does it get us in trouble, but we're terrible at it."

The Librarian gave a wry smile. "Yeah."

She looked like she was going to say something else, but was interrupted by a large slab of meat dressed in a Crawley uniform. Miles' stomach dropped.

"Well." He walked up to 'Annie' and gripped her chin harder than nessecary. "Thought you could get away after what you did, Arry?"

"Don't call me that, ass."

The man laughed and dropped her chin. "Keep the bravado. It'll be fun when we execute you." He turned to look at everyone else. "You lot sit tight. I'm sure someone will be here for you. Eventually." He chuckled darkly and left the room.

"Well. We're fucked." Miles said. "We should leave."

"Shh..." 'Annie', or Arry, said, her head cocked as if she was listening. She looked up after a bit. "There's someone else here. I hear something next door."

"Great. Anyone else have an idea about how to get out of these cuffs?"

Arry rolled her eyes and then closed them. She grunted, then pulled one hand free.

"Okay, great. Anyone else?" Alice popped her own cuffs, then the Librarian's. She gave Miles a small smile as she did his.
"Caravan life gets boring." She shrugged.

"Thanks."

Arry popped her thumb back into place, wincing. "Let's grab our stuff..."

The door next to them opened, and they heard some scuffling, then a window broke. They all exchanged a look. "I think we should go." The Librarian said.

Arry pulled the door open and poked her head out. "It's clear."

They all grabbed their bags and slipped out. The large window overlooked a courtyard in an urban area. "Milwaukee. We're in Milwaukee..." Miles said. He swore. "This is not good."

"We should head to the Market." Arry looked at him. "Maybe we can buy passage from the Fleet?"

Miles nodded. "Yeah, yeah. That's our best bet." A rope made from bed sheets hung from the window, and two people were hobbling away from the building. "Come on, let's get out of here before someone shows up." He hopped to the window sill and wrapped the tied sheets around one hand. He carefully climbed down the side of the building, careful of his injured shoulder. He hit the ground and looked around, seeing the two fleeing people disappear around a corner. He heard a cry from above and felt someone land on him.

"Ah! Get off me!"

He heard a groan, then Arry roll off him. "Ow, sorry. Lost my grip."

"Yeah, come on, let's move away from the rope."

"Don't want to break anyone else's fall?" Arry mocked.

"Shut up." He called up to the Librarian and Alice. "It's clear." They both came down the makeshift rope quickly.

"Which way is the Market?" The Librarian asked.

Miles pointed. "This way. It's on the Lake. The Fleet always has at least one ship here. Usually more. Hopefully, one of them is heading up to Green Bay."

"Green Bay? But we need to be in the Valley!" The Librarian looked surprised.

Alice looked apologetic. "I'm done. I'm going back home. I can get another compass. Do you want to get sold to the Crawlers again?"

"No..."

"Then, let it go. Head back to Madison and the other Lorekeepers."

The Librarian looked like she wanted to argue, but eventually she nodded. "To the Market, then."

The party set off to the Market. When they got close, a flood of people came down the street, some of them panicked. One man slowed down and told them to turn the other way, a bunch of Crawlers attacked the docks and the Fleet.

Exchanging a look, the party went down an alley and tried to get a glimpse of the action. It was hard to see, but they could see people firing guns back and forth.

"What now?" Alice asked.

"The Market could be deserted? Maybe we can find weapons, or even transportation."

Miles looked reluctant. "Okay, but we stay out of sight. Odds are good both sides will shoot first, not caring about asking questions later."

The Librarian nodded. "Yeah, that's good. Are we ready?"

They all nodded. Without a word, they all headed into the Market.